Sacred Ceremony

Alicia looked panicked when she heard the footsteps of the guards. Nor did She tell the Pebbles about the Sacred Ceremony that would be performed today.

Feeling Pebbles doesn't need to know about this, she asks Pebbles to leave her prison.

"Pebbles, today is my last day in prison. As I said before, this may be our last meeting. You should leave now, I'm sure you will be able to return home." Alicia lowered the playing Pebbles over her head, and placed it near the vent that it could use to escape.

Pebbles actually wanted to stay with Alicia, Pebbles even immediately jumped down from the vent and approached Alicia to invite her to play again.

But when the guards arrived at the door, she immediately took Pebbles and put it in the corner of the prison.

"We'll play again later, but you'd better stay here for now." Alicia knew Pebbles would definitely follow her, but she didn't want that.

Pebbles just nodded before Alicia walked away.

*click*

The first person Alicia saw was the sickly old Priest. As usual, he always wore an expression full of lies.

"Miss, you look better and better. I'm glad you finally want to eat. Then let's end your suffering quickly." The priest smirked when he saw that Alicia's tray was all empty.

The priest asked the guards to remove her leg handcuffs and replace her with handcuffing her hands.

"Hmm, have you been moving around a lot lately?" The old priestess focused on Alicia's bruised ankle. He immediately grabbed her leg and pulled her up until she fell.

"Ow, that hurts." Her back and head immediately hit the ground when suddenly the priest pulled her leg. She tried to free her leg from the priest's grasp, but she simply didn't have the strength to do so.

She began to understand why her food rations were decreasing every day. It was so that she would not have the strength to escape when the day of the Sacred Ceremony arrived.

"That's ugly. Even though I put you in a small prison so you don't move around much. You Damn Girl!" The priest who Alicia always saw as a friendly person, finally showed his true nature. He looked angry and even slapped Alicia who was lying on the floor.

The slap really hurt, her cheeks felt a little swollen after that one slap. But she tried not to cry in front of her little friend who was in the corner of the prison.

"Now you have become a bad thing. I don't know if the gods will accept you or not. The guards take her to the Altar!" The priestess continued to ridicule Alicia. Even his face was red and some veins appeared on his forehead.

'Your face is old and wrinkled. With that expression you're the ugliest. I hope you choke to death!' Even though her body ached all over, but Alicia tried to comfort herself by mocking the Priest in her heart.

Alicia's hands were immediately handcuffed, and the chains connected to one of the guards' hands. The guard immediately stood up and pulled Alicia to leave immediately.

"Aw..." Alicia couldn't help but feel the pain as her wrist felt like it was going to snap as her whole body lifted.

Even at a glance, she glanced at her little friend who was in the corner of the prison. She was happy that Pebbles was still standing where it was, and doing nothing. There was nothing she could do to say goodbye but to show Pebbles one last smile of hers.

She was taken forcibly to climb the stairs at the back of the Holy Kingdom. There were already seen there were many people on the edge of the stairs that lined up to the altar at the top of the mountain.

Alicia could only lower her head while noticing that her footsteps stepped on the stairs properly and was able to keep up with the guards who were moving quite fast.

She tried to take a glance to see what the citizens of the Holy Kingdom really looked like. It was completely different from her thoughts about the citizens of the holy kingdom who would wear their holy clothes.

'I'm scared.' She was frightened when she saw the citizens all wearing robes with hoods. Even their faces were covered by a mask with a strange pattern.

When she felt scared, it affected her legs which started to shiver and made her tread wrongly.

She almost slipped but she managed to balance her body because of the help of the chain of her handcuffs held by her guard. But she felt excruciating pain in her wrist which the guards had previously been forcibly pulling.

"Tch! It's a country girl. Can't Sir Cassius find a more decent girl?!" Hearing some ridicule from the residents for her carelessness earlier, Alicia lowered her head again.

'This is scary! I want to go home.' The aura that Alicia felt as she got closer to the top of the mountain made her shiver in fear. She was cold because the temperature at the top of the mountain was very low, plus she was only wearing a light loose cloth.

She was getting more and more scared when she reached the altar the priest was referring to. It was a stage with a concrete pillar in the center plus pieces of wood surrounding the tall pillar.

"W-is that the altar?" Alicia was really worried when she saw that the pillar had black stains like burn marks.

But not the answer to her question got, but a tug in her hair and at that moment she felt a sword being swung against her braided hair.

She took a glance and saw that her braided white hair was already on the ground. And she could see that her long hair had become short. "W-what did you do to my hair?"

She wanted to scream, but her throat was dry and she couldn't scream.

Alicia was cold, enduring the pain of being hit and weak from not eating or drinking for 10 days. Even without being handcuffed, the weak girl would have a hard time running or fighting.

Reluctantly, Alicia was carried by the guards and tied to the altar.